Method and apparatus for treating plates prior to lacquering or the like



A. PODEL METHOD AND APPARATUS EGR TREATING PLATES PRIOR TO LAGQUERING OR THE LIKE 11. 1923 s mms -sheet 1:

Filed Jam.

JNVE/VTOR 5, LMKUQ? A. PODEL METHOD AND APPARATUS F013 TREATING PLATES PRIOR TO LACQUEBING OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 11 1923 m m 3- Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR s LIKE (luvs/whoa 3 Sheets-Sheet v A. PODEL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING PLATES PRIOR TO LACQUERING OR TH Filed Jan.

ABRAHAM room, or LONG ISLAND 'crrr, new roan, nssmnoa 'ro nnenon. one am) onosunn'coaronarron', or LONG rsnann orrr, NEW roan, a conrona'rron' OF NEW YORK.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING- PLATES PRIOR TO LACQUERHIG OR THE LIKE.

Application filed January 11; 1923. Serial No. 611,972.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM PODEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Long Island city, in the county of-Queens, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods and Apparatus for Treating Plates Prior to Lacquering or the like, of which the following is aspecification.

y This invention relates to a method, and a machine for carrying out the method for treating sheets ,of metal, or the like, prior to lacquering, lithographing, or painting.

Sheets of tin or other sheet metal fre quency have spots of grease or other foreign material over the surface of the sheets. This is particularly true of sheet tin because the coating of tinis usually applied to the sheets of iron or steel by dipping the untinned plates into a molten bath of tin and the sheets are usually treated with a fluxing bathprior to immersion in the molten tin, and some of this bath adheres to the finished product. Sometimes the fluxing material is maintained over the surface of the molten tin. In'any event, commercial sheets of tin metal are more or less" covered with fluxing material. In many uses of tinned plates it is necessary that the plate be covered with ornamentationor with protecting lacquer. Wherever the surface of the tin is not thoroughly'cleaned before it is .painted, lithographed of lacquered, or the like, the applied coating is liable not to adhere to the t1n,over the uncleaned spots. Heretofore in the-artit has been customary to clean the tin by brushing or scrubbing operations. Sometimes these operations are carried out by hand but usually are performed by suitable machines. It has been found that where the foreign matter on, the sheets is of an oily nature brushing and scrubbing tends to spread the oil rather than to remove it. However, the scrubbing operation does remove dust and loosely, adhering particles of a granular nature.

The present invention overcomes the dimculties of the known prior art by providing a method and machine for carryin out the method, which comprises passing t e sheets of tinned metal through heating flames which locally apply intense heat to a rapidl moving tinned sheet. In the preferred em odiment of the invention the heat is applied the form of rows of heating flames, which rows are separated so that while the entire sheet was, subjected to flames during the passage through the burners, only a very small strip or area of the sheet is passing through the burner flames and suflicient space is provided between the rows of burners to permit the cooling. of the sheet so that the sheet itself is not heated to an excessive degree. The intense heat of the flames on the surfaces of the sheet,-however, completely incinerate or volatilize the foreign matter on the sheets. After the passing throu h the heating stepthe sheets are then su jected to a brushing or scrubbing operation which removes any particles of solid material adherin to the sheets whether in the nature of as resulting from combustion or wholly incombustible foreign material. Thus the sheets leave the device in a thoroughly cleaned condition ready to be ornamented or lacquered as desired.

It isrecognized that the disclosure in the present case shows but one. embodiment of the present invention, and therefore this disclosure is to be considered as illustrative and not inthe limiting sense.

Throughout the drawings and specification like parts are designated by like characters.

Figure 1 is an elevational side view of a device for carrying out the present invention and brushing and scrubbing apparatus is shown diagrammatically;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the burner table; y r

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the burner table;

comprising one of the cleaning Figure 4 is a perspective view of a sheet assing through one of the burner units and illustrates the operation of the flames upon the sheet. Referring now to the drawings, generally, it will be noted that a burner table mechanism is illustrated more or less in detail 'while the cleaning and scrubbing machine is illustrated in Figure 1 diagrammatically. The brushing and scrubbing machine while apparatuses adapted to perform a step in t e present process, is nevertheless a machine of a standard type which may be purchased in the open market and is of such well known construction that detail illustrating is believed would be surplusa 'e.

Thepresent method may be carried out by hand and may be carried out by machinery, one form of which may comprise a sheet table 1 supported upon a suitable machine frame 2, and the sheet table may be provided with a sheet guide-plate 4 which, directs the sheet-A between the first pair of feed rolls. The burner table is provided with two pairs of feed rolls com rising lower driven rolls 5 on a suitable s aft which is mounted in bearingsd and are connected by s rocket chains 7 which run over sprocketw eels 8.

on the shaft, of the lower driven rolls 5.

The lower driven rolls 5 and the upper rolls v9 are of the, same diameter and the cog wheels 11 are also the same diameter as the cog wheels'12t This arrangement causes the Since the upper rolls and shafts are made of.

upper and lower rolls to have the same peripheral speed. The open bearings 10 permit the upper rolls to ride freely over sheets being fed to the machine and to drop to the lower rolls after a sheet passes.

iron and steelthe weight of these rolls is sufficient to provide the necessary pressure to properly grip sheets passing throu h the machine. Other pairs of similar ro ls are ,provided in the; brushingand scrubbing machinel iand all these pairs of rolls are so arranged, relatively to the length of a standard .sheet of tinned metal, that the sheet is at all timesunder influence of two pairs of rolls, consequently a sheet once started through the machine proceeds automatically until all of the operations are com leted.

The burner table is. arranged with pairs ofburnerswhich may comprise horizontall arranged pipes :15 and 16 provided wit burner openings. ese pipes are connected to a main supply pipe 17 into which a suitable burning mixture of commercial gas and air is led through pi es 18 and 19; Cut-off valves 20 are provi ed between the main supply pipe 17 and each pair of burner pipes or tubes 15 and 16 so that any pair of burners may be cut in or out of service as desired. The burner tubes are preferably, mounted in pairs supported by brackets 21 that set on the main frame 2. Preferably, a plurality of pairs of burner pipes are arranged between the pairs of feed rolls, and in the device illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, two pairs of burner tubes are shown between the feed roll stations. Suitable supporting guides 22 are arranged to support the sheets A as the sheets progress through the device. Edge uides 24 are also provided to direct the sheets in their movement. As will be seen from Figure 4 the flames 25 from the burner pipes 15 and 16 spread out brushwise fashion on each side of the sheet A so that intense burning flames com letely cover both sides of the sheet A where y the entire sheet is subjected to a burning flame which completely removes all the volatile and combustible matter on the surface of the sheets.- Then the sheets are subjected to operation of the scrubbing and brushing machine which may be of any well known construction and comprises brushes 50 and 51 shown diagrammatically in the drawing. Any foreign material which remains on the sheets after being subjected to the flames is usually of a granular nature and is effectively removed by the operation of the scrubbing and brushing machine, thus leavin the sheets in a thoroughly clean state.

aving described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The method of treating tinned sheets,

,or the like, toremove deleterious material,

which method comprises subjecting the surface of the sheet to a burning flame to volatilize or incinerate combustible materials on the surface of the sheet to produce granular materials, and then removing said granular materials from the sheet.

2. The method of treating tinned sheets,

or the like, to remove deleterious material, which method comprises subjecting portions of the surface of the sheet to a burning flame to volatilizeor incinerate combustible materials on the surface of the sheet to produce granular materials while cooling the remainder of the sheet, and then removing said granular materials from the sheet.

3, The method of removing combustible materials from the surface of tinned sheets, or the like, which method comprises subjectin the said sheets to an incinerating flame w ich is movable over said sheet to prevent excessive heating of the sheet and to incinerate and volatilize foreign substances on the sheet to produce dried or granular material, andthen removing said dried and granular material from said sheets.

4. The method of removing combustible materials from the surface of tinned sheets, or the like, which method comprises subjectsaid sheets to opposed incinerating flames which aremovable over'lboth sides of said sheet to prevent excessive heating of the sheet and toincinerate and volatilize foreign substances on the sheet to produce dried or granular material, and then brushing the comprises subjecting the entire surface of said sheet'to .a localized burning flame which is rapidly moved over the-surface of said sheet to volatilize and inci'nerate foreign matter on said sheet without unduly heating said sheet to produce dried or anular material, and then removing said ied or gran ular material from said sheet.

6. The method of treating tinned sheets, or the like, for cleaning same which method comprises subjecting the entire surface of both sides of said sheet to localized burning flames which are rapidly moved over the surfaces of said sheet to volatilize and incinerate foreign matter on said sheet to produce dried or granular material without undul heating said sheet, and then scrubbing t e sheet to remove said dried or granular material from said sheet.

7. The method of cleaning tinned sheets or the like which method comprises providing a plurality of incinerating and volatilizing zones of gases in the state of combustion, and rapidly passing said sheets through a plurality of said zones to produce dried or ranular material, and then removing the dried orgranular material from the surface of the sheets. g

8. A machine for treating sheets of metal or the like for cleaning, said machine comprising a plurality of feed rolls, a plurality of burner tubes arranged in the ath of sheets controlled by said feed rolls, and adapted to apply a flame to substantially the entire surface of a sheet as it passes, means to supply" a combustible gas to said burner tubes, and means to support said sheets between said feed rolls.

9. A machine for treating sheets of metal or the like for cleaning, said machine comprising a plurality of pairs of feed rolls, said feed rolls being so spaced that a plurality of pairs simultaneously engage a single sheet, a plurality 'of burner tubes arran ed in the path of sheets controlled by sai feed rolls and adapted to apply a flame to substantially the entire surface of a sheet as it passes, means to supply a combustible gas to said burner tubes, and means to support said sheets between said feed rolls.

10. A machine for treating sheets of metal or the like for cleaning, said machine comprising a plurality of feed rolls; a plurality of burner tubes arranged on each side of the path of sheets controlled by said feed granular ma? rolls; "drivingdevices a drive all'of said rolls at the same speed, said burners being arranged to a ply a flame to. substantially the entire sur ace of a sheet as it passesmeans'tosupply a combustible gas to said burner'ftfubes and means to support Isaid sheets'between said'feed mus. 11.,A' machine for cleaning sheets of metal or the like, said" machine comprising a pluralit of burner tubes arranged in pairs with the burner openings in one tube being directed toward the other tube, and means to pass sheets between said tubes and through the flames from said burner openings with the surface of the sheets substantially perpendicular to said flames, whereby the surface of said sheets is completely subjected to the flames from said burner tubes. 12. A machine for cleaning sheets of metal or the like, said machine comprising a pluralit of burner tubes arranged in pairs with the urner openings in one tube being directed toward the other tube, means to pass sheets between said tubes and through v the flames from said burner openings whereby' said' sheets are completely subjected to the flames from said burner tubes, and devices to brush said sheets after the sheets pass'through the burner tubes.

'13. A machine for cleaning sheets of metal or the like, said machine comprising a lurality' of burner tubes arranged in pairs with the burner openings in one tube being directed toward the other tube, means to regulate a supply of combustible gas to said tubes, means to pass sheets between said tubes and through the flames from said burner openings whereby said sheets are completel sub ected to the flames from'said burner tubes.

14. A machine of the character specified comprising a machine frame, feed rolls mounted upon said machine frame, said feed rolls being mounted in pairs with the upper. I feed rolls having freedom of movement away from the lower feed rolls, a plurality of burner tubes molmted in pairs with the axes of said burner tubes being substantially parallel to the axes of said feed rolls, sheet supporting means between said pairs of feed rolls, driving means for said feed rolls, and means to supply said burner tubes with a combustible mixtureof gases.

15. The methodof cleaning metal sheets which comprises subjecting the surface of a sheet to a flame to carbonize and vaporize foreign matter, and then removing nonvola tile materials from the sheet.

16. The method of cleaning metal sheets which com rises heatin the surface of a sheet local y to vaporize greasy foreign -matter, and then removing nonvolatile materials from the sheet.

17. The method of cleaningmetal sheets which comprises, subjecting the surface ofa sheet to a flame to vaporize volatile foreign matter, and then removing nonvolatile foreign- 18. The method of cleaning the surface of metal which comprises heating the surface locally to vaporize reasy matter,

removing nonvolati e materials surface. A

{19. .The m matter.

and then from the ethod of cleaning metal surfaces moving nonvolatile substances by brushing the surface. I ABRAHAM PODEL. 

